This impossibly pink Hebe is more than delighted to be in the ground as I kept it marooned in a pot last year, along with three others just as decorative, but sadly not as durable. Last year they went some way towards assuaging the unrelieved awfulness of the building work (however welcome the result) and I have rewarded the survivor with a place in my border. The bees love Hebe and I am minded to grow more as it lasts well in flower and is tolerably neat out of it.Reluctant Fuchsias
My fondness for big blowsy fuchsias has faded having suffered three years worth of fearsome aphids which destroy soft new buds and prevent flowering; but at the same time I have been hopeful of raising fuchsia Hawkeshead from rooted cuttings - a simple task you might imagine - not so! for when I ordered half a dozen from the most well-known company on the planet, they sent the wrong fuchsia and, understandably, I didn’t find out until the plants grew on and developed fat buds! (when they should ha
ve developed tiny ones). I complained and they promised to send me replacement Hawkeshead the next year as it was by then, too late to send more. Surprise surprise, the next year 6 rooted cuttings arrived, I grew them on, until they too developed big FAT buds. I gave up - didn’t even complain, but I swore I’d never order anything from that very well 
known company again. Instead I contacted a fuchsia nursery in early spring this year and lo - fuchsias were delivered and I have, finally, grown Hawkeshead. One might well say Hawkeshead?? - its all over the place, well, not in my experience, I’ve seen it in other peoples gardens, admired it, coveted it, but not on sale in a garden centre or plant nursery. As well as Hawkeshead, I grew White Knights Pearl this year and it too is exquisite, here’s hoping I get them through the winter.Clever Clematis
On a similar note, I noticed this tiny, but surprisingly vigorous, and slightly scented Clematis in a favourite plant nursery - The Walled Garden, on the road between Wootton Bassett and Malmesbury - Clematis x triternata Rubromarginata - bit of a mouthful but well worth growing in a small space. The delicate little blooms invite close scrutiny, and it has made plenty of growth and brought forth dozens of flowers and all in its first year. That’s what I call a “good buy”. (As with all Clematis in their first year, it has needed a goodly amount of water, but that said, it is close to a wall so doesn’t benefit hugely from anything other than very heavy rain).Plain Hard Work
The approach of August brings me no pleasure, I don’t look forward to it because for me it is the most difficult of months. My clay soil has dried out even with the heavy rain we have had at times, and although my mixed border is more colourful this year, as I intended and hoped it would be, all the soil improvement and feeding I’ve done is still not enough - don’t you just hate clay soil. More welcome freebies
I came across some free Nasturtium seeds some weeks ago and decided to give them a go just to fill gaps I knew would appear. I just pushed them into the soil and watered them, and frankly, forgot about them until they began to come up. More luck than judgement, but they are currently illuminating a tree heath, which doesn’t really do anything at this time of year, being a spring flowerer, and lighting up an uninteresting corner of my plant wall left bare by the disappearing spring bulbs. It is very necessary to deadhead them pretty diligently given their propensity for setting seed and having done so, cease flowering, but I have to grit my teeth a bit as they smell appalling and doing the job without gloves causes smelly hands. That said, they make such a splash of colour and the bees love them, so giving them garden room is a bit of a no-brainer. 